Sounds like a fine way to abolish the existing Court, since the constitution is where it gets its power.
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Marbury v. Madison established the right for the US Supreme Court to strike down laws that violate the Constitution. Overturning Marbury would turn the Supreme Court into a court of review, meaning they only apply the law as written. They would lose the power to invalidate statutes. Some countries with civil systems do have high courts like that. It wouldn't be the end of the world. We just generally believe that adding checks and balances encourages a healthy government.
So, no. Overturning Marbury does not make the Constitution not the law. The Constitution is the law because the drafters signed it and the legislatures enacted it. The only way to get rid of it legally is to pass a new constitution in the same way.
Not a lawyer, but if they overturned this decision, the court would lose nearly all of their power. It was this decision that gave the Supreme Court the power to interpret constitutionality.
Ahh good point. So would be against their personal interests to repeal it this way
Just like it would be against the personal interests of republicans in Congress to rubber stamp the executive branch when it clearly violates constitutional checks and balances. We’ve always depended on personal greed for power as part of what makes checks and balances work. What congressman would give up his power to allocate funding, for example, and just let a tyrant have it?
But we live in a time when that no longer works, when leadership is so craven they would rather bow before their orange idol, and willingly give up the power they’ve been working toward their entire life.
Would the Supreme Court be any different? Will they care about their unique power to interpret the constitution, if they can accept motorhomes, private aircraft services, luxury resorts without fearing consequences?
Sounds like an excellent question to pose in a constitutional law class. Let's put our best social media randos on it!
Not really. Effectively, the Court is checked by their legitimacy. They need the public to believe that their rulings matter, because they don't have their own enforcement mechanisms. We saw this actually play out in Worcester v. Georgia. The Court can rule how it likes, but without public buy-in they'll be told to pound sand.
That's why they're actually concerned about how they appear to the public and which way the political winds are blowing. If they go too far and do something truly radical, like repeal the Constitution, they'd be ignored. Or killed.
I think there's enough precedent at this point that everyone would still treat the Construction Constitution as law.
However, the case is also when the Supreme Court gave itself the power to override Congress by declaring laws unconstitutional. If the court overturned Marbury v. Madison the court would also be kneecapping itself by giving up one of its greatest powers.
I think there's enough precedent at this point that everyone would still treat the Construction as law.
What construction?
Typo. Autocorrect has been killing me lately.
That was clearly a typo.
I'm surprised that the Constitution didn't come with a mechanism of enforcing compliance to itself built in. Many other countries, whose founders had the luxury of hindsight, have a constitutional court for exactly this purpose written into their constitution.
They wouldn't overturn it and give back their power, but I could definitely see them modifying it to grab more power.
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